From the rumors and hints being dropped, India will have another reason to celebrate, maybe as early as this weekend.

There is absolutely no doubt in my mind that the new torch bearer deserves this honor. But before we go all out, let’s remember the person who started it all, when the climate was very different.

Back in 2005, Narain Karthikeyan became the first Indian driver to get a seat in F1. And 2005 was a very different time period. Sponsors in India were still weary of the international scene, there was no Force India F1, there was no Indian GP and there certainly was no chartered course for an Indian driver. I do not know of any other drivers from India who decided to pick a driving school like Elf Winfield and then went on to compete in the international scene, even in the junior races.

But braving those odds, Narain managed to secure a ride. Driving for a back marker team, I did not expect too much from him, but he did shine. Call it blind faith, but I did and still do believe that Narain would have done well had he found a stronger team.

In the following days and weeks when the Indian media hails the new blood, celebrate, but spare a moment for the man who made it there, with a much smaller fan base, a much smaller group of sponsors and managed to create history.

As much as I hate Nascar, I know this. If Narain does start racing in that series, I will be there cheering him. The man deserves it and that’s the least I could do as his fan.

I do understand that there are lot of idiots fans who pay good money to watch people drive in circles. Add the possibility of tapping the Indian market for fans, advertising opportunity and having the first Indian in Nascar, it all makes sense. Narain could be making good money, but by driving in the most barbaric racing series, he would be pushing fans like me away.

This leaves us with two teams, both of which have drivers from their country. Lotus is still in search of that elusive Malaysian driver and so is Force India. If both those teams go the national route, almost half the grid will look very different.

As I see the situation right now, this cannot be very good for the sport. But stranger things have happened. What are your thoughts?

Narain Karthikeyan might be testing on Fridays, a previous rule by the FIA had made sure that each team could only run two cars for testing on Fridays to cut costs. Now the teams have an option of allowing their third driver to test the car on Fridays, if they do not use one of their race drivers.